Transcript

00:00:00

>>

MUSIC]

00:00:01

A flashy reveal before legions of automotive journalists, the debut of the Mercedes EQC looks just like most others at first glance. It's all electric, although this isn't even Mercedes's first battery powered car. But this may mark the start of a new assault from German automakers on an upstart rival, Tesla, with its current hold over the market for premium electric vehicles.

00:00:25

By one estimate from the analysts at LMC Automotive, about 12% of electric cars on the world's roads are from Tesla. Yet that may drop to less than 3% in a decade, they say, which would make Tesla just another electric automaker. BMW and Volkswagen are making similar pushes. Reuters's Esha Vaish was at the Swedish woodland location chosen for the reveal.

00:00:49

>> Nobody is really predicting that the Germans are gonna threaten Tesla's very existence, and Tesla is going to go out of business. However, one thing is definitely possible, and that is that the Germans are gonna be grabbing a lot of market share. The combined market share of the German car companies is going to overtake that of Tesla by 2020, and surpassTesla.

00:01:14

>> The German companies have formed an alliance, along with Ford, to make a network of car chargers on highways, emulating Tesla, but also evidence of the economies of scale at work. Mercedes may also be thinking, if you can't beat them, join them.>> Please welcome, Dieter Zetsche.>> Its CEO in blue jeans, like a Silicon Valley executive.